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Community-Led Growth: A Way to Sustainable Development

Apr 29, 2023

In the form of a Substack blog coming in 2022 Anu Atluru who was previously the head of Community at Clubhouse was interviewed on the path she traveled to grow the company of a social media online from a few founding members to a workforce of 100+. In her blog post she provided a major tip for business owners and entrepreneurs that are looking to sustain (and fast) growth:

"Traditional product-led growth (PLG) is the process of creating the best self-service solution that can draw and retain customers. This is a direct, user-to-product sell as well as a "best product is the winner" strategy. The concept of community-led development (CLG) includes people into the process and facilitates the "best suggestions win" strategy."

By utilizing their communities, atluru and her team have opened an entirely new avenue of growth that is far superior to the traditional, product-driven methods.

In this article we'll explore the black hole which is called community-led development, and the significance of education online within this process, along with the strategies your company could adopt to create your personal CLG strategy. We'll also provide an example of some of the best businesses that have embraced this growth strategy.

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Understanding the power of community-led growth

The expansion of community is a method to increase the number of users in your base and drive organic and sustainable revenue through word of mouth. It's a process of iteration that starts with being aware of the desires and needs of your users, after when you've used that information to design content and experience that are specifically tailored to their requirements.

The reason CLG can have such an positive impact is because it helps create an environment where users can actively contribute to creating an impact for themselves as well as others. When companies focus in promoting its community of users that it creates an "ecosystem" in which customers are advocates, promoters as well as co-creators.

Some examples of companies that have seen an increase in their growth due to the community.

A business that is primarily focused in providing products with utility as a tool maker would be inclined to go after PLG and work to "build an enhanced mousetrap." The idea won't work for everyone.

Here are some examples of successful and growing examples of community-driven development:

LinkedIn

A better illustration of this point than professional networking massive LinkedIn. To increase its users it employed its members to give ideas and recommend other users.

The result was that users were more likely register (and remain) within the online platform because they trusted their peers more than the product's description or ad.

HubSpot

HubSpot has a team comprised of professionals. HubSpot team has all about content marketing, which helps drive growth for the business and build a community.

HubSpot has built a library of education materials - which include online classes, an webinars, whitepapers, ebooks and more - which helped users understand the inbound marketing process and helped them understand the way HubSpot could benefit their businesses.

The HubSpot Academy was wildly successful and assisted the company in growing its customer base in leaps and bounds.

Hootsuite

They created forums as well as a way for customers to connect with one another for ideas and to voice their opinions. It also helped create an atmosphere of community to Hootsuite's clients that resulted in a greater organic growth rate for the company.

Online education is crucial in driving the growth of communities

The online education sector is an integral component of any community-led growth strategy. When you write informational content designed to assist customers better understand your product, you're providing them with the data they'll need to build a following for it.

This leads to an increase in organic growth because individuals are more inclined to recommend your products or services to family and acquaintances - offering your educational tools to help let in the doors.

Online education is a benefit for businesses

Beyond community development Online education may also offer your company other benefits:

  • Building relationships with your customers and making sure they're happy.
  • Cross-selling or upselling is possible, because the customers are aware of what's on offer and the steps that they must be taking to achieve success in using your service or product.
  • Learn more about patterns of behaviour among users. It will also provide details about who your target audience is.
  • Let customers feel appreciated by the company because they'll feel appreciated and respected when they can access exclusive educational material.
  • Differentiate your product from competitors, as you offer more than just the essential characteristics.

Additionally, they offer benefits to the members of the community to promote the message to their networks, further increasing organic growth.

Guidelines to guide you in pursuing the expansion of your business through community involvement.

Are you interested in implementing community-led development in your company? Here are the actions you need to take:

Step 1: Define your target audience

Before you develop online educational content which is personalized to the audience you want to reach You must know who they are. Learn what demographics are prevalent in your customer base. You can then utilize that data to develop buyer personas and target audience for you to develop your community-led growth strategy.

2. Find the gap in knowledge and the skills of your intended audience

Distribute surveys or conduct interviews with users, or look over tickets for customer service to get details.

3. Web content that is designed to be educational and of high quality

Do not try to speed up the development of educational content. Quantity over quality is the principal goal. Develop a comprehensive and detailed article that's tailored to your target viewers' desires and requirements.

 4. Offer the education content via the web via channels

It's not enough to hope your clients will discover the educative material you produce. It is important to distribute the content on channels consumers are already familiar with, like messages, social media platforms or even online webinars and events.

Inspire users to share the details with others on their social networks. Or give referral incentives to encourage more spread of information.

5. Make an online community around the educational content you create

When they've made a decision, they shouldn't just be added to the current user pool. Instead, establish an exclusive group that allows them to interact with others who have graduated to inquire about questions and talk about the most effective techniques. It will also help to build confidence and commitment to the service.

Sixth Step: Promote participation and cooperation in the local community

Don't allow your community to care by itself. Engage your community by offering rewards by hosting competitions, contests and contests to your customers and other residents of the community. You can also encourage them to participate by even giving them the opportunity to write their own content that is shared in the community.

It keeps them engaged and come back because they're investing in people, not in the product.

Step 7: Measure the impact of your educational online programmes

It's not worth it when you aren't able to measure its effect. Utilize analytics to measure the results of your community-driven growth initiatives, and then adjust your plan accordingly in order to get the best result. Does a specific online course lack follow-up involvement?

Do more people sign up to a specific online course than the rest? This information can help refine your CLG strategy to ensure that it is as effective as is.

A case study

Entrepreneurs on Fire

What can you do to leverage a listenership for podcasts? Sure, it's possible to reach out with corporate sponsorships or additional fees for the channel that is exclusive, or even sell merchandise.

The idea was to build an online platform for education which was designed specifically to cater to entrepreneurs. It would enable students to attend classes on finance, marketing along with leadership and sales from in the comfort of their own residences.

What was important here was that these courses were inexpensive for anyone who wanted to take a course, but were also of high-quality enough to benefit people who want a comprehensive learning experience.

It started with a no-cost class, which was an introduction to the material to follow. It then moved on to more extensive courses that could be purchased to buy for a minimal fee. The company also added exclusivity to their offering by creating a members-only portal known as Fire Nation, where subscribers are able to access exclusive content, as well as receive individualized assistance from assistance from their staff.

What's the result? A highly engaged group of entrepreneurs who are committed to developing, learning and creating an impact on the future of their own. Entrepreneurs on Fire has earned more than $1.5 million from its programming, and it has seen a huge increase in listeners thanks to a dedicated network and now has an audience of over 100 million.

Conclusion

The concept of community-based growth is increasingly popular with companies looking to achieve sustainable, organic increase. Utilizing the potential of engagement with customers and investing in online learning and education, companies can implement an "best recommendation wins" strategy that results in higher word-of-mouth referrals and higher levels of customer satisfaction.

If you're looking for a way to sustainably grow your company, consider investing in initiatives that are led by community members, such as online learning.

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